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The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 


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The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry  from 
the     Viewpoint    of    a    Layman 


v/ 


BY 


David  J.  Brewer,  LL.D. 

Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States 


New  York  Chicagro  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


MDCCCXCVII 


Copyright,  1897, 

BY 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


The  substance  of  this  monograph  was  originally 
given  as  an  address  to  the  students  in  the  Divinity 
Department  of  Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Conn., 
on  April  2d,  1897.  It  is  now  published  in  response 
to  numerous  requests. 


THE  PEW  TO  THE  PULPIT 

"  Time  at  last  sets  all  things  even." 
For  fifty  years  I  have  sat  in  the  pew 
a  target  for  the  pulpit.  Unnumbered 
arrows  have  been  shot  at  me  from 
the  ministerial  bow,  feathered  with 
logic  and  rhetoric,  sharpened  with 
appeal  and  exhortation,  and  some* 
times  poisoned  with  denunciation 
and  abuse.  All  the  ill  I  have  ever 
done,  all  I  have  ever  attempted  to 
do,  or  even  thought  of  doing,  and  all 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

that  any  man  believed  I  had  done 
or  even  thought  I  might  be  tempted 
to  do,  has  been  held  up  before  a 
sometimes  admiring  and  sometimes 
amused  audience,  even  as  the  results 
of  a  washerwoman's  toil  are  spread 
out  on  the  afternoon  clothesline.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  as  I  have  heard 
the  anathema  "woe  unto  you  law- 
3^ers  "  rolled  as  a  sweet  morsel  under 
the  tongue,  I  have  felt  like  shouting, 
whoa  unto  you  ministers.  And  this 
I  have  had  to  receive,  sitting  in  si- 
lence and  without  the  luxury  of  talk- 
ing back.  Now  all  is  reversed.  I 
have  the  pulpit  before  me.  I  am  to 
talk  and  you  must  listen.  I  can  fire 
away  at  you  and  you  have  no  escape. 
Would  it  be  strange  if  the  words  of 
Shylock  came  to  my  mind,  *'  If  I  can 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

catch  him  once  upon  the  hip,  I  will 
feed  fat  the  ancient  grudge  I  bear 
him.**  Would  it  not  be  sweet  re- 
venge if  I  could  gather  in  this  single 
hour  all  the  shafts  that  have  been 
launched  at  me,  and  hurl  them  back 
at  your  devoted  heads?  You  may 
say  that  personally  you  never  did 
any  of  these  things ;  but  you  teach 
the  doctrine  and  justice  of  vicarious 
suffering  and  should  not  object  to 
furnish  an  illustration. 

We  hear  much  to-day  about  the 
decay  of  the  pulpit.  And  if  you 
were  to  heed  some  of  the  would-be 
scientific  critics  you  might  be  led  to 
believe  that  it  was  an  institution  fit 
only  for  semi-civilized  times,  and  now 
slowly  passing   out  of  existence  in 

obedience  to  the  scientific  law  of  the 
9 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

survival  of  the  fittest.  We  also 
sometimes  hear  a  wail  coming  from 
the  ministry  itself,  as  if  Christ  and 
His  religion  were  losing  their  hold 
on  earth  because  the  pulpit  was  not 
in  all  things  accepted  as  leader  and 
guide.  Analyzing  the  thought  thus 
suggested  it  finds  expression  in  these 
propositions:  First,  the  time  was 
when  the  pulpit  was  the  great  place 
of  attraction  for  young  men  of  brains 
and  power,  and  the  intellectual  force 
was  found  in  its  service.  To-day 
other  professions  and  other  work  are 
more  attractive  to  men  of  brains  and 
power,  and  the  pulpit  is  recruited 
only  from  the  ranks  of  the  second  or 
third  class.  Secondly,  in  those  days 
the  minister  was  the  recognized 
leader,  and  the  pulpit  was  the  power 

10 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

in  the  land.  Now  the  sceptre  has 
passed  to  the  lawyer,  the  editor,  and 
the  business  man,  while  the  pulpit 
has  become  one  of  the  inferior  social 
forces ;  and  thirdly,  and  as  it  were  a 
corollary  from  these,  that  while  then 
society  rested  and  depended  upon 
the  pulpit,  now  the  world  finds  that 
it  is  getting  along  very  well  without 
often  consulting  it,  and  ere  long  will 
dispense  with  it  altogether. 

That  there  is  some  foundation  for 
these  assertions  all  must  admit.  Ob- 
viously, the  pulpit  is  not  to-day  so 
comprehensive  and  controlling  in  its 
relations  to  human  society  as  it  once 
was.  It  is  no  longer  the  central 
dominating  force  and  figure.    In  this 

direction    may  I   quote   the   recent 
11 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

words  of  Rev.  Dr.  Heury  M.  Field, 
in  the  ''  Evangelist." 

*'In  the  early  days  of  New  England 
the  minister  was  the  great  man  of 
the  town.  As  the  messenger  of  God, 
he  was  invested  with  a  spiritual  au- 
thority, that  was  far  more  respected 
then  than  now.  If  he  did  not  as- 
sume, like  the  Catholic  priest,  to  hold 
the  keys  of  the  kindgom  of  heaven, 
the  doors  of  which  he  could  open 
and  shut,  yet  the  most  reckless  trans- 
gressor had  a  secret  foreboding  of 
the  future  if  he  disregarded  his  sol- 
emn admonitions.  Even  in  the  com- 
mon intercourse  of  life,  he  was  not 
like  other  men,  to  be  spoken  of,  or 
to  be  spoken  to,  lightly  or  unad- 
visedly, but  with  a  reverence  ap- 
proaching to  awe.  And  such  he  re- 
12 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

mained  for  two  hundred  years.  Even 
so  late  as  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury, Dr.  Stephen  West,  who  was  the 
minister  of  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  for 
sixty  years,  though  small  in  stature, 
had  a  presence  that  frightened  all  the 
boys  in  the  town.  When  he  came 
down  from  the  hilltop  on  which  he 
lived,  his  diminutive  figure  set  off 
by  his  three-cornered  hat,  his  short 
clothes,  and  his  gold-headed  cane, 
they  drew  up  by  the  sidewalk  and 
uncovered  their  little  heads,  and  so 
remained  till  he  disappeared  slowly 
down  the  street. 

But  all  this  is  only  a  beautiful 
memory.  That  generation  has  long 
since  passed  away  and  another  gen- 
eration has  come  upon  the  stage,  in 
which  the  conditions  of  ministerial 

13 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

life,  as  of  all  other  life,  have  changed, 
and  the  picturesque  old  figure  has 
disappeared  and  left  no  successor. 

From  that  time — the  first  quarter 
of  the  century — the  minister  has  lost 
in  large  degree  the  prestige  that 
comes  from  his  office ;  there  is  no 
longer  a  halo  around  his  head;  he 
has  had  to  come  down  from  his  ped- 
estal, and  stand  on  the  common  earth, 
like  other  men — to  be  judged,  like 
them,  by  what  he  is  and  what  he 
does  in  the  world." 

It  is  useless  to  ignore  the  facts  thus 
graphically  portrayed.  Neither  lam- 
entation nor  complaint  can  change 
what  is,  or  disturb  its  significance. 
It  is  true,  looking  at  the  pulpit  in 
its  relations  to  present  life  and  con- 
trasting its  position  to-day  with  tliat 

14 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

which  existed  a  century  and  a  half 
ago  in  New  England  at  least,  there  is 
a  decadence  of  power  and  control.  It 
is  no  longer  the  one  great  ruler.  But 
I  desire  most  earnestly  to  insist  that 
this  change  in  what  may  be  called  its 
purely  human  relations  does  not  in- 
dicate that  its  value  to  the  world  is 
waning,  or  that  its  end  is  coming. 
The  changed  conditions  of  human 
life — marvelous  as  they  have  been  in 
the  last  century  and  in  few  respects 
more  significant  than  in  the  diJBfer- 
ent  relations  of  the  ministry  to  the 
great  body  of  the  people — do  not 
involve  any  disparagement  of  the 
ministry,  no  intimation  that  it  is  to 
become  in  the  future  only  a  memory, 
nor  that  it  has  outlived  its  useful- 
ness.    The  change  of  its  place  in  the 


The   Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

world's  life  is  not  prophetic  of  death, 
but  is  eloquent  of  all  the  glories  of  a 
higher  usefulness. 

Within  the  compass  of  a  single 
lecture  all  the  elements  conducing  to 
and  producing  this  change  cannot  be 
noticed.  I  must  content  myself  with 
two  or  three,  wliich  are  potent  and 
far-reaching.  One  is  that  the  range 
of  human  thought  and  study  is  vaster, 
and  the  spread  of  knowledge  among 
the  masses  greater.  In  the  early  New 
England  days  the  extent  of  human 
knowledge,  as  of  human  pursuits, 
was  restricted.  Collegiate  or  any 
equivalent  education  was  limited  to 
a  few,  and  he  who  possessed  it  as- 
sumed to  be  wise  in  all  the  depart- 
ments  of  knowledge.  The  minister, 
the  lawyer,  and  the  doctor  were  the 

IG 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

learned  men.  They  created,  as  it 
were,  a  trinity  of  intellectual  forces, 
the  dominant  factor  being  the  minis- 
ter. Indeed,  the  lawyer  was  looked 
upon  as  almost  an  intruder  ;  as  one 
tolerated  because  he  might  know 
something,  but  to  he  avoided  because 
presumably  a  bad  man  and  the  espe- 
cial object  of  the  Master's  denuncia- 
tions. By  an  act  of  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  1663, 
"usual  and  common  attorneys"  were 
excluded  from  seats  in  the  legisla- 
ture. As  said  by  Washburn,  in  his 
Judicial  History  of  Massachusetts, 
**it  was  many  years  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  colony  before  anything 
like  a  distinct  class  of  attorneys-at- 
law  was  known,  and  it  is  doubtful  if 
there  were  any  regularly  educated  at- 

2  17 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

torneys  who  practiced  in  the  courts  of 
the  colony  during  its  existence."  And 
as  for  the  doctor,  his  voice  was  heard, 
and  his  presence  demanded,  only 
when  accident  or  disease  invaded  the 
home  or  threatened  the  end  of  life. 
He  was,  therefore,  as  it  may  be  said, 
simply  an  occasional  influence.  The 
minister  was  the  one  constant  uni- 
versal and  acknowledged  presence 
and  power.  No  suspicions  attached 
to  his  integrity,  no  question  arose 
as  to  his  constant  usefulness,  no  one 
doubted  his  learning.  And  so  in  an 
age  and  community  where  newspa- 
pers were  unknown,  books  were  rare, 
and  the  highest  reach  of  ordinary 
knowledge  was  the  three  R's,  as  they 
have  been  so  often  called,  reading, 
writing    and   arithmetic,    it    is    not 

18 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

strange  that  the  one  subject  to  no 
suspicion,  always  present,  confessedly 
learned  and  supposed  to  bear  some 
kind  of  divine  authority,  should  be 
the  dominant  force  in  the  life  of  the 
community.  While  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment was  democratic,  in  spirit  and 
fact  it  was  theocratic.  The  clergy 
were  the  real  rulers  of  New  England. 

Now  all  this  has  been  changed. 
The  range  of  human  inquiry  has  be- 
come vast,  and  no  man  can  walk  all 
its  various  ways  with  any  hope  of 
attaining  proficiency  therein  during 
the  limits  of  a  single  lifetime. 

The  pulpit  no  longer  monopolizes 

or  is  even  supreme  in  the  fields  of 

knowledge.      One   may   be   a   good 

chemist  or  geologist  or  astronomer 

and  neither  read  Hebrew  nor  be  post- 
19 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

ed  in  the  shorter  catechism.  Indeed, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  more 
complete  the  devotion  to  one  narrow 
subject  the  greater  the  knowledge  in 
respect  thereto.  One  who  gives  up 
an  entire  lifetime  to  the  study  of  the 
characteristics  and  habits  of  a  single 
bug  not  unreasonably  feels  that  he 
knows  more  about  that  bug  than  the 
profoundest  student  of  the  Bible  and 
theology.  And  as  there  are  many 
bugs,  as  well  as  almost  limitless  ob- 
jects of  study,  it  inevitably  results 
that  the  specialist  in  each  is  the 
learned  man  therein,  and  while  the 
pulpit  may  be  wise  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion and  theology  it  no  longer 
reigns  supreme  over  all  the  depart- 
ments of  human   investigation   and 

knowledge. 

20 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

The  change  in  the  business  life  of 
the  nation  is  equally  pronounced. 
No  toiler  in  the  great  workshop  of 
human  life  completes  any  article. 
Labor  is  universally  segregated  and 
divided.  Each  does  his  separate 
work  as  one  of  many  steps  necessary 
to  the  completion  of  the  perfected 
thing,  and  knows  little  or  nothing  of 
that  done  by  others  either  before  or 
after  him.  Not  only  in  the  mere  mat- 
ter of  manual  labor  is  that  segrega- 
tion of  toil  evidenced.  In  the  higher 
reaches  of  professional  life  it  is  be- 
coming equally  true  that  in  order  to 
attain  success  there  must  be  a  sepa- 
ration, and,  what  may  be  called,  a 
narrowness  of  pursuit.  No  man  in 
any  of  our  great  centres  of  business 
attains  eminence  as  a  lawyer,  or  a 

21 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

doctor,  but  rather  as  a  specialist  in 
one  or  other  of  these  professions. 
He  is  a  corporation  lawyer,  an  insur- 
ance lawyer,  a  real  estate  lawyer, 
or  a  criminal  lawyer.  He  must  be  a 
specialist  in  diseases  of  the  eye,  or  of 
the  ear,  or  of  the  lungs.  So  vast 
is  the  reach  of  human  acquisitions, 
so  intricate  and  complex  are  busi- 
ness transactions  and  relations  that 
no  one  can  hope  for  success  unless 
he  gives  himself  unreservedly  to  one 
especial  branch  of  professional  life. 
The  old  saying,  "jack  at  all  trades 
and  good  at  none  "  is  to-daj^  carried 
forward  to  the  proposition  that  Jack 
in  all  the  departments  of  a  single 
trade  is  a  failure  in  each.  In  other 
words,  the  great  law  of  labor  and 
business  and  professional  life  to-day 

22 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

is  specialit3^  The  specialist  is  the 
successful  man.  And  this  law  of  spe- 
cialization affects  the  ministry.  No 
longer  can  the  minister  pose  as  one 
possessed  of  all  information  and  en- 
titled to  control  outside  the  limits  of 
his  special  work.  The  moment  he 
steps  into  the  domain  of  education, 
and  says,  *'  I  know  what  is  best  therein, 
I  can  decree  the  limits  beyond  which 
science  may  not  go,  and  no  man  must 
be  permitted  to  teach  unless  he  has 
passed  through  the  gateway  of  the 
divinity  school " ;  the  moment  he 
enters  the  arena  of  business  life  and 
says,  *'  I  understand  all  about  bonds 
and  stocks  and  railroads,  and  I  have 
a  right  to  determine  what  is  right 
and  what  is  not " ;  the  moment  he 
presents  himself  in  the  city  hall,  or 

23 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

where  the  legislature  of  a  state  is 
convened,  or  beneath  the  great  dome 
of  the  Capitol  where  Congress  meets 
to  determine  the  welfare  of  the  na- 
tion, and  assumes  to  say  that  "be- 
cause I  am  a  minister  I  have  a  right 
to  prescribe  the  terms,  the  limits  and 
the  character  of  legislation,  city, 
state,  or  national,"  that  moment  the 
common  sense  of  the  community  says 
to  him  most  emphatically,  **  go  back 
to  your  pulpit  and  leave  matters  of 
education  and  busin'ess  and  legisla- 
tion to  those  who  are  trained  there- 
for." Never  in  the  history  of  the 
world  was  there  greater  significance 
than  to-day  in  the  words  of  the  Apos- 
tle Paul :  "  For  I  determined  not  to 
know  anything  among  3'ou,  save 
Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified.'* 
24 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

And  if  in  the  future  the  ministry  is 
to  remain  a  welcome  and  acknowl- 
edged power  it  can  do  so  only  as  it 
stays  in  the  pulpit.  The  moment  it 
goes  outside  of  that  it  jostles  with 
everybody  and  has  no  right  to  com- 
plain if  everybody  gives  it  a  kick. 

The  other  matter  I  desire  to  pre- 
sent is  the  growing  intensity  of  the 
democratic  thought.  And  I  use  the 
word  "  democratic ''  in  no  partisan 
sense.  No  man  can  read  the  history 
of  the  last  hundred  years  without 
recognizing  that  it  is  becoming  more 
and  more  emphatic  in  the  judgment 
of  all  that  the  one  sacred  thing  is  the 
individual ;  that  birth,  wealth,  place, 
profession,  achievements,  intellectual 
accomplishments,  are  all  subordinate 
to   the   great  fact  of  manhood,  and 

25 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

that  no  authority,  no  control,  no 
dominance  over  society  or  state 
rightfully  attaches  to  any  of  the  ac- 
cidents or  incidents  of  life.  As 
Edna  Dean  Proctor,  in  her  ode  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  well  said ; 

Clearer-eyed  the  world  is  learning  throngh 
each  upward  struggling  year, 

He  is  prince  whose  life  is  noblest,  be  he 
peasant,  be  he  peer. 

Lo  it  crowns  a  Garibaldi,  born  a  fisher  by  the 
sea, 

And  it  scorns  a  king  of  Naples  though  of 

Bourbon  blood  is  he. 

*  *  *  *  * 

Let  the  English  heir  believe  it;   read    the 

lesson  of  the  time  ; 
Know  the  sceptre  is  but  a  symbol  and  the 

man  alone  sublime. 

There  is  no  divine  right  of  kings. 
There  is  no  apostolic  succession. 
There  is  no  inherited  greatness.  To- 
day more  than  ever,  and  in  the  future 
more  than  to-day  it  is  and  will  be 

26 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

true  that  no  place,  position,  ofiSce, 
inheritance,  or  any  other  mere  inci- 
dent of  life  will  be  recognized  as 
worthy  of  notice  among  the  controll- 
ing forces.  The  growing  feeling  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  story  told  of 
one  who,  registering  his  name  at  a 
hotel,  rather  pompously  said  to  the 
clerk,  *'  I  am  lieutenant  governor  "  to 
which  the  clerk  affably  replied, 
"  never  mind,  sir ;  I  don't  suppose 
you  could  help  it,  and  no  one  about 
the  hotel  will  treat  you  with  any  dis- 
respect on  account  of  it."  Burns 
prophesied  the  future  when  he  wrote, 

"  The  rank  is  but  the  guineas  stamp  ; 
Tiie  man's  the  gowd  for  a'  that." 

And  this  fact  will  affect  the  clergy 
as  all  others.  You  cannot  expect  by 
simply  saying  "  I  am  a  minister  "  to 

27 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

have  the  people  either  bow  down, 
give  way,  or  let  you  have  a  place. 
The  place  you  will  have  in  society, 
the  power  you  will  exercise,  the  in- 
fluence you  will  exert,  will  depend 
less  and  less  upon  the  office  you  hold, 
the  title  you  bear,  and  more  and 
more  upon  what  you  are  and  what 
you  do.  Individuals  among  your 
number  will  rise  to  a  commanding 
position  and  become  mighty  and  up- 
lifting forces  in  the  community  and 
in  the  nation,  but  your  profession 
(considered  simply  as  a  profession) 
will  mean  little  more  than  any  other 
to  the  great  mass  of  struggling,  push- 
ing, urgent  humanity.  The  world 
will  always  recognize  the  wisdom  of 
the  wise  man,  the  integrity  of  the 
honest  man,   the  purity  of  the  pure 

28 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

man  as  well  as  the  helpfulness  and 
comfort  of  him  who  really  brings  the 
sweet  messages  of  peace  and  a  higher 
life ;  but  the  strong  man  of  mature 
years  who  has  himself  had  the  bene- 
fits of  a  collegiate  education,  or  had 
his  wits  sharpened  in  the  actual 
struggles  of  business  life,  to  whom 
books  of  history  and  of  science  are 
no  strangers,  who  has  toiled  and 
struggled  until  he  has  won  a  place  in 
the  community,  only  smiles  to  him- 
self when  some  youth  fresh  from  the 
divinity  school,  with  little  experience 
of  the  deep  things  of  life,  and  seeking 
to  direct  the  manner  of  other's  lives, 
raises  his  arms  and  shouts  "thus 
saith  the  Lord."  Obviously,  as  he 
thinks,  this  is  carrying  too  far  the 
declaration  of  scripture,  "  out  of  the 

29 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings."  The 
blowing  of  ram's  horns  may  have 
been  potent  to  throw  down  the  walls 
of  Jericho,  but  the  days  of  miracles 
are  past,  and  the  walls  we  to-day 
build  around  our  lives  rest  on  foun- 
dations too  firm  to  be  disturbed  by 
the  blast  of  any  horn  in  the  hand  of 
priest  or  levite.  Your  impress  upon 
life  may  and  ought  to  be  great  and 
powerful,  but  it  will  be  an  impress 
coming  not  from  your  profession  but 
from  your  personal  earnestness,  de- 
votion and  ability.  In  short,  and  to 
sum  it  up  in  a  word,  the  democratic 
tendencies  of  the  day  are  taking  all 
authority  away  from  rank  and  birth, 
from  class  and  profession,  and  vesting 
it  in  the  individual  brain  and  life. 
Nor  is  this  tendency  to  be  regarded 

30 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

as  a  mere  explosion  coming  up  from 
the  slums,  from  the  pauper  and  the 
tramp.  It  does  not  mean  the  level- 
ing down  of  the  higher  to  the  lower 
but  the  lifting  up  of  the  lower  to 
the  higher.  It  means  that  the  great 
masses  are  entering  the  sacred  and  far- 
reaching  precincts  of  human  knowl- 
edge. It  means  that  every  man  is 
learning  to  think  for  himself,  and 
that  he  hears  no  commanding  voice 
save  that  which  comes  from  a  clearer 
brain  and  a  purer  life.  Do  not  think 
either  that  this  tendency  belittles  the 
profession,  or  degrades  in  any  manner 
your  work  in  life.  It  rather  comes 
as  a  most  earnest  appeal  for  your 
individual  preparation  for  highest 
service,  and  bids  ever}^  one  entering 
upon   the   sacred  work  of  preaching 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

the  gospel  to  enter  it  with  a  heart 
aglow  with  the  enthusiasm  of  hu- 
manity and  with  that  intensity  of 
earnestness  and  devotion  which  com- 
pels attention. 

May  I  be  pardoned  if,  beyond  these 
general  observations,  I  add  some  sug- 
gestions of  a  more  direct  and  per- 
sonal nature.  And  first  in  reference 
to  business  relations.  Be  independ- 
ent, and  avoid  so  far  as  is  possible 
anything  that  looks  like  dependency. 
Do  not  pose  as  even  a  quasi  object 
of  charity,  or  permit  yourselves  to 
pass  as  the  expecting  recipients  of 
gratuities.  While  I  do  not  charge 
this  as  a  habit  of  the  clergy  I  do 
mean  to  say  that  it  is  frequent  enough 
not  only  to  give  point  to  tlie  jibes  of 
the  vicious,  but  also  largely  to  de- 
33 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

tract  from  the  standing  of  the  pulpit. 
The  common  talk  is,  I  give  so  much 
to  the  church  to  support  the  minister, 
as  though  it  were  a  mere  gratuity. 
Half  fare  tickets  are  offered  by  com- 
mon carriers  and  not  only  accepted 
but  sometimes  asked  as  a  fitting 
charity  to  the  clergy.  A  donation 
party  is  not  only  accepted  but  often 
welcomed  and  sometimes  suggested 
as  an  equivalent  or  compensation  for 
unpaid  dues.  A  discount  to  the 
clergy  is  the  advertisement  of  many 
business  men,  truthfully  stated, 
though  often  with  a  view  of  securing 
the  patronage  of  the  congregation 
rather  than  with  any  idea  of  benefi- 
cence to  the  minister.  These  illus- 
trate a  common  thought,  which  is 
seldom  spurned,  often  tolerated,  and 

3  33 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

occasionally  encouraged  by  the  pro- 
fession, that  the  ministry  constitute 
a  dependent  class,  ignorant  of  the 
things  of  this  world,  and  therefore  to 
be  cared  for  and  helped  by  the  busi- 
ness part  of  the  community.  There 
is  a  humorous  side  to  this  picture 
which  is  often  drawn  and  which  if  I 
had  time  I  would  like  to  amuse  you 
with,  but  I  shall  not  wander  in  this 
attractive  field.  My  purpose  is  served 
when  I  call  attention  to  the  facts  as 
above  stated.  They  mean  this,  and 
nothing  more  ;  that  there  is  a  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  many  to  regard 
the  clergy  as  not  equal  laborers  in 
the  great  field  of  the  world,  fairly 
earning  all  that  is  promised  for  their 
services,  and  entitled  to  receive  as 

any  other  laborers  a   just  quid  pro 
\  34 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

quo,  but  as  at  best  a  semi-dependent 
class,  to  be  carried  along  through 
life  as  other  objects  of  charity.  How 
different  the  language  commonly 
used  in  reference  to  business  transac- 
tions with  the  ministers  from  those 
with  other  parties.  In  the  one  in- 
stance it  is,  I  gave  so  much  to  the 
minister,  or  to  the  church  for  the 
minister.  In  all  other  instances  it 
is,  I  paid  the  school  teacher,  I  paid 
the  doctor,  I  paid  the  lawyer,  I  paid 
the  butcher,  as  though  the  one  earned 
nothing,  while  the  others  did.  Now 
I  think  one  thing  which  would  ele- 
vate the  position  of  the  minister  is 
the  constant  assertion,  I  am  no  ob- 
ject of  charity ;  I  take  nothing  as  a 
gift.     I  am  paid  that  which  I  earn 

and  receive  no  more  than  the  just 
35 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

value  of  my  services  and  that  which 
I  have  an  equal  right  with  every 
other  laborer  to  receive.  I  give  the 
quo  and  I  demand  the  quid.  In 
other  words,  I  would  have  every 
minister  say  to  any  church  seeking 
his  services,  if  I  come  to  you  I  come 
as  a  laborer,  to  be  paid,  and  to  be 
paid  the  full  sum  you  promise,  and 
at  the  time  you  name,  and  if  you  do 
not  care  for  my  services  on  those 
terms  you  can  get  along  without 
them.  I  know  you  may  reply  that 
you  are  not  working  for  earthly  re- 
wards, that  you  are  looking  for  your 
compensation  at  the  hands  of  the 
Master  and  in  the  life  to  come.  I 
am  not  giving  this  advice  solely  for 
your  sake,  but  as  much  or  more  for 
those  to  whom  you  minister.     It  is 

36 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

human  nature  to  look  down  upon 
him  who  is  in  any  sense  regarded  as 
the  object  and  recipient  of  charity, 
and  to  respect  him  who  demands  and 
receives  just  pay  for  valued  service. 
If  you  would  have  your  life  a  power 
in  the  community,  you  must  insist 
upon  being  regarded  as  an  equal 
laborer  with  all  others  and  possessed 
of  an  equal  right  to  full  and  prompt 
compensation.  Whatever  of  charity 
your  life  may  express  should  be 
charity  by  and  not  to  you. 

Another  matter,  do  not  trust  the 
Lord  too  much.  This  advice  may 
savor  of  the  earth,  but  nevertheless 
it  is  a  wisdom  born  of  experience.  I 
do  not  question  the  fact  that  the  God 
we  worship  is  the  Lord  of  the  earth 
as  well  as  of  the  heavens,  and  that 

37 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

His  promises  to  His  followers  are 
abundant.  At  the  same  time  He  has 
placed  you  and  me  in  a  world  subject 
to  inexorable  laws,  and  to  the  lessons 
of  those  laws  we  must  listen.  It 
may  seem  harsh  and  hard,  and  yet  I 
must  say  that  those  beautiful  words 
commencing  "  behold  the  lilies  of  the 
field ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they 
spin  "  have  misled  many  a  preacher. 
They  have  suggested  to  him,  and 
been  a  suggestion  influencing  his 
life,  that  somehow  or  other  he  is  ex- 
empt from  the  control  of  the  ordi- 
nary laws  of  business  and  that  be- 
cause he  is  as  he  fancies  the  special 
servant  of  the  Most  High  he  may 
disregard  those  laws  and  still  escape 
the  consequences  of  such  disregard. 

While  he  may  not  formulate  in  his 
38 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

own  mind  the  process  of  reasoning, 
his  argument  practically  is  this ;  that 
while  confessedly  the  age  of  miracles 
has  passed,  that  of  special  provi- 
dences still  exists  and  it  is  a  good 
equivalent.  While  the  Almighty 
may  not  send  ravens  to  bring  me 
food  when  I  am  hungry;  while  He 
may  not  strike  the  dead  rock  to  open 
living  streams  of  water  when  I  am 
thirsty,  yet,  as  He  cares  for  the  lilies 
so  He  cares  for  me,  and  that  as  I  am 
engaged  specially  in  His  work  I  may 
trust  Him  to  provide  all  that  my  life 
or  the  life  of  my  family  may,  accord- 
ing to  my  judgment,  require.  But 
the  truth  is  special  providences  sel- 
dom come  to  him  who  seeks  to  trade 
in  them.  They  never  can  be  de- 
pended  upon   for  the    payment    of 

39 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

debts.  You  are  not  authorized  to 
write  the  Lord's  name  as  endorser 
on  any  note  3^ou  give  to  the  man 
from  whom  you  have  purchased  your 
library,  or  piano,  or  horse  and  buggy. 
If  you  want  to  give  full  play  to  the 
matter  of  special  providences  trust 
the  Lord  to  bring  the  thing  you  need 
and  never  trust  Him  to  furnish  the 
money  to  pay  for  that  which  you 
think  you  need  and  therefore  have 
bought.  Trust  Him  to  provide  the 
piano  you  think  your  daughters'  mu- 
sical education  requires,  rather  than 
trust  Him  to  provide  the  money  to 
pay  for  it  after  you  have  bought  it. 
He  may  think  that  your  delay  in 
putting  your  trust  in  Him  presents  a 
case  which  He  may  well  leave  out- 
side the  reach  of  special  providences. 

40 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

It  does  not  add  to  the  power  of  your 
preaching  or  the  influence  which  you 
as  a  man  exercise  in  the  community 
to  have  the  grocer  or  the  butcher 
saying  that  your  bills  are  harder  to 
collect  than  those  of  the  saloon 
keeper  or  the  woman  who  keeps  a 
house  of  entertainment  not  for  man 
and  beast  but  for  beasts  of  men. 
And  even  the  patient  members  of 
your  own  congregation,  who  most  of 
them  are  apt  to  have  something  of 
earth  in  their  make-up,  often  get  wea- 
ried— unreasonably  though  it  may 
seem — of  waiting  for  the  payment  of 
their  bills.  I  do  not  mean  to  inti- 
mate by  these  words  of  advice  that 
all  preachers  act  in  this  way,  or  even 
that   it   is   a   common   habit.      Still 

there   is   enough   of   it  to   make   it 
41 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

worthy  of  notice.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  fault  is  not 
wholly  with  the  minister.  If  the 
congregation  does  not  act  in  accord- 
ance with  the  strict  laws  of  business 
in  dealing  with  him ;  if  it  fails  to 
make  its  payments  regularly  and 
promptly ;  it  exposes  him  to  the  bur- 
den of  just  such  trials  as  these.  I 
know  whereof  I  am  talking.  I  have 
had  experience.  For  something  like 
thirty  years  my  intimate  friend, 
George  Eddy,  and  I  carried  largely 
the  burdens  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Leavenworth,  and 
I  know  how  difficult  it  was  to  make 
the  members  of  that  congregation 
realize  their  duty  in  these  matters, 
and  how  hard  it  was  to  make  collec- 
tions with  anything  like  reasonable 

42 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

promptness.  And  yet  you  will  par- 
don me  for  saying  that  part  of  this 
comes  from  your  own  failure  to  in- 
sist upon  business  conduct  in  the 
dealings  of  the  congregation  with 
you,  and  partly  from  the  mistake  to 
which  I  have  just  referred,  of  re- 
garding yourselves  as  quasi  objects 
of  charity.  For  the  moment  you 
put  yourselves  in  that  attitude,  and 
look  for  gifts  instead  of  payment, 
you  not  only  seem  to  forget  that 
time  is  not  of  the  essence  of  a  gift, 
but  also  are  naturally  led  to  discount 
the  expected  benefactions  of  the  fu- 
ture. 

Another  advice  is,  do  not  write 
your  sermons;  talk  to  the  people. 
Do  not  give  a  lecture,  but  preach.  I 
know  this  is  not  always  easy.     With 

43 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

some  it  is  almost  an  impossibility. 
If  you  want  to  write  anything  give 
it  to  the  papers,  and  so  reach  a  larger 
congregation,  but  when  you  stand  in 
the  pulpit  leave  your  manuscript  at 
home  and  talk  to  us.  Learn  wisdom 
in  this  respect  from  the  court  room, 
and  imitate  the  lawyer.  Indeed,  I 
am  frank  to  say  it  would  do  most  of 
you  good  to  practice  law  a  few  years 
before  going  into  the  pulpit.  A 
lawyer  stands  before  a  jury ;  he  has 
no  speech  in  manuscript.  He  writes 
no  learned  or  eloquent  discourse,  but 
throws  the  whole  force  of  his  being 
into  a  present  effort  to  reach  the 
twelve  men  before  him  by  argument 
and  appeal.  He  makes  many  gram- 
matical blunders,  often  repeats  him- 
self, says  many  unnecessary  things, 

44 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

but  he  has  in  view  the  single  specific 
object  of  reaching  the  twelve  men 
who  are  listening  to  liim,  and  making 
them  believe  and  feel  as  he  does. 
And  the  very  fact  that  he  is  un- 
hampered by  any  manuscript  gives 
more  force  and  power  to  the  words 
he  utters. 

Of  course,  we  have  this  advantage : 
our  audience  cannot  leave  us.  The 
jurors  have  to  sit  and  listen  and  if  we 
can  only  prevent  the  gruff  old  judge 
on  the  bench  from  interfering  we 
may  talk  by  the  hour,  while  any  one 
in  your  congregation  as  soon  as  he  is 
tired  gets  up  and  leaves.  You  have, 
therefore,  to  use  more  moderation 
than  we.  You  have  to  put  a  bridle 
on  your  tongue,  for  the  great  danger 
of    extemporaneous     speech    is    its 

45 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

length.  Our  grandfathers  used  to 
listen  while  the  preacher  turned  the 
hour  glass  two  or  three  times,  but 
you  would  far  better  put  on  the 
table  before  you  a  half-hour  glass, 
and  the  moment  the  last  sand  drops, 
stop — even  if  in  the  midst  of  a  sen- 
tence. If  you  make  this  a  rule  the 
congregation  will  always  know  the 
limit  to  which  your  talk  will  run, 
and  will  therefore  seldom  if  ever 
care  to  leave.  More  than  that,  the 
rule  of  always  stopping  at  a  certain 
time  will  get  you  in  the  Way  of  con- 
densing your  words  and  strengthen- 
ing your  talk,  and  still  you  will  re- 
tain the  benefit  of  that  appeal,  that 
power,  which  comes  from  speaking 
and  seldom    if  ever  goes  with  the 

reading  of  written  words. 
46 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

Again,  give  us  not  too  much  the- 
ology, and  yet  certainly  some.  We 
like  it  occasionally ;  we  need  it  too. 
We  like  to  have  the  good  old  doc- 
trines of  the  church  placed  before  us 
in  all  their  fullness  with  clearness  and 
with  power.  We  like  to  have  the 
historic  story  of  the  church's  achieve- 
ments pictured  in  all  its  splendor.  It 
is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
theology  is  out  of  date ;  that  we  care 
not  what  our  fathers  believed,  nor 
what  is  the  creed  of  the  church  to- 
day. As  a  man  thinketh  so  is  he, 
and  that  which  he  believes  controls 
his  actions.  And  yet  waste  no 
time  on  unimportant  matters.  Only 
those  questions,  belief  in  which  con- 
trols one's  actions  are  worthy  of  con- 
sideration in  the  pulpit.  We  laugh, 
47 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

and  properly,  at  many  of  the  subjects 
upon  which  theologic  discussions 
were  had  during  the  middle  ages,  and 
yet  of  how  much  more  importance 
are  some  that  we  hear  discussed  to- 
day !  No  one  cares  how  many  angels 
can  dance  on  the  point  of  a  cambric 
needle,  or  whether  Joseph's  coat  of 
many  colors  was  a  piece  of  patchwork 
like  the  crazy  quilts  of  to-day.  And 
we  are  not  much  more  interested  in 
the  question  whether  the  whale  swal- 
lowed Jonah  or  Jonah  the  whale. 
Matters  of  that  kind  have  no  touch 
upon  human  life,  but  there  are  ques- 
tions which  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  are  of  profoundest  present  and 
practical  importance  ;  questions,  be- 
lief in  which  must  more  or  less 
control  our  action  and  direct  the 
4a 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry- 
tendencies  of  life.  You  may  call 
them  questions  of  theology  or  not 
but  they  are  certainly  matters  which 
affect  our  lives.  Common  sense  in 
such  things  is  perhaps,  after  all,  the 
supremest  test.  It  may  be  safely 
affirmed  that  a  minister  should  never 
spend  time  talking  about  anything, 
belief  one  way  or  the  other  in  which 
will  change  no  man's  life  and  conduct. 
Some  times  we  hear  things  dis- 
cussed in  the  pulpit  that,  to  say  the 
least,  no  sensible  man  cares  aught 
about.  I  remember  some  years  since 
going  to  a  town  where  I  was  to  de- 
liver a  lecture  and  spending  the 
evening  after  the  lecture  in  conver- 
sation with  the  good  minister  of  the 
Congregational  Church.  He  was  very 
much  interested  in  a  sermon  which 

4  49 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

he  had  recently  preached,  and  told 
me  the  substance  of  it.  He  said  that 
he  had  endeavored  to  show  how  the 
Almighty  was  going  to  get  the  better 
of  Satan,  and  that  for  this  He  must 
postpone  the  end  of  the  world  until 
there  were  more  saints  in  heaven 
than  sinners  in  hell.  He  seemed  to 
think  that  the  Almighty  had  ad- 
vanced no  further  in  mathematics 
than  the  mere  processes  of  addition 
and  subtraction  and  that  quantity  and 
not  quality  was  the  great  thought  in 
His  mind.  I  suggested  that,  from 
present  appearances,  such  a  result 
must  put  off  the  Last  Day  for  a  long 
while,  and  he  had  replied  that  he  had 
considered  that  matter  and  shown 
that  the  day  was  not  so  distant  as  at 
first  might  appear.     I  asked  him  how 

50 


Suggestions  to  the  IMinistry 

he  was  to  make  up  the  majority 
on  the  Lord's  side.  He  said  he  would 
first  count  all  tliose  who  had  a  delib- 
erate and  intelligent  faith  in  the 
Saviour — a  great  number  of  course, 
and  likely  to  grow  more  rapidly  in 
the  days  to  come — then  he  would 
count  all  those  who  died  in  infancy, 
before  the  mind  had  attained  any 
capacity  to  judge  between  right  and 
wrong;  and  he  seemed  to  believe 
that  it  was  a  great  blessing  to  die  in 
childhood.  And  as  I  listened  I 
thought  that  in  some  cases  it  was  so. 
And  then,  for  the  third  class,  he  said 
there  were  the  idiots,  imbeciles  and 
lunatics.  I  felt  sure  that  he  was  go- 
ing to  count  me  in  somewhere  or 
other.  But  the  idea  of  serving  up 
to   intelligent    people  such   talk   as 

51 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

that!  Is  it  not  a  travesty  on  sacred 
things,  and  do  you  wonder  that  the 
people  listening  to  it  do  not  recog- 
nize the  speaker  as  a  leader  and 
guide.  You  may  always  be  sure 
that  your  talk  is  a  failure  when  your 
congregation  goes  away,  feeling  that 
it  does  not  care  whether  that  which 
you  say  is  true  or  not ;  when  it  is  ab- 
solutely indifferent  to  the  question 
which  you  are  discussing,  and  indif- 
erent  because  the  question  itself  is 
of  an  entirely  unpractical  nature. 
Such  a  sermon  is  a  great  deal  worse 
than  a  doctor's  bread  pills,  because 
the  pills  if  they  do  no  good  do  no 
harm,  whereas  the  sermon,  by  virtue 
of  the  fact  that  it  wastes  time  and 
taxes  patience,  does  immense  harm. 

But    enough   of    criticism.     Any- 
52 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

body  can  find  fault.  The  fool  can 
ask  questions  which  a  wise  man  can- 
not answer,  and  so  long  as  we  hold 
all  our  treasures  in  earthly  vessels,  so 
long  as  we  have  the  weaknesses 
of  the  human  and  are  exposed  to 
the  temptations  of  flesh  so  long  must 
all  the  instrumentalities  of  life  have 
their  limitations  and  imperfections. 
Hence  if  any  man  sets  out  to  find 
fault,  becomes  a  professional  critic 
and  engages  in  the  business  of  point- 
ing out  the  foibles  and  mistakes  of 
others  he  can  spend  all  his  time. 
But  there  is  a  better  way.  The 
builder  is  of  more  value  than  the 
iconoclast ;  the  helper  than  the 
critic,  and  I  want  to  occupy  a  few 
moments  in  suggesting  why  it  is 
that  the  pulpit  still  opens  the  most 

53 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

inviting  door  to  the  best  and  strong- 
est, the  most  eager  and  ambitious  of 
our  youth.  We  may  have  ceased  to 
look  at  the  pulpit  but  we  still  look  at 
the  man  in  the  pulpit.  You  cannot 
awe  us  by  claiming  to  be  in  the  line 
of  apostolic  succession,  but  you  may 
direct  and  influence  us  by  your  lives 
of  purity  and  devotion  and  your 
messages  of  comfort  and  peace.  The 
place  does  not  make  the  individual 
but  the  individual  may  take  great 
advantage  of  the  place.  Opportunity 
is  said  to  be  the  golden  word  of  suc- 
cess; and  the  pulpit  is  the  oppor- 
tunity. The  power  of  the  profession 
as  such  may  wane,  but  with  the 
waning  of  the  power  of  the  pro- 
fession waxes  the  power  of  the  in- 
dividual   in    the     profession.      The 

54 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministrj^ 

pulpit  is  the  fulcrum  of  opportunity, 
resting  upon  which  the  lever  of  in- 
dividual brain  and  heart  may  still 
move  the  world. 

Yours  is  the  unselfish  profession — 
not  that  there  are  no  selfish  men  in  it 
or  no  unselfish  men  out  of  it.  It  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  many  enter 
into  business  or  professional  life 
other  than  yours  with  the  high 
thought  of  making  their  lives  help- 
ful and  a  blessing  to  the  world,  and 
also  undoubtedly  true  that  society 
comes  after  a  while  to  recognize 
their  unselfish  purposes,  and  gives 
them  high  credit  therefor.  But  not- 
withstanding this  the  fact  remains 
that  he  who  enters  upon  any  of  the 
ordinary  avocations  or  professions  of 
life  is  supposed  to  do  so  with  the 

55 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

thought  of  self  and  self  interests  and 
he  must  overcome  that  presumption 
before  the  full  power  of  his  life  as  a 
beatitude  can  be  realized.  While,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  who  enters  your 
profession  is  presumed  to  do  so  with 
no  thought  of  self  but  with  the 
supreme  idea  of  helpfulness  to 
others.  There  are  no  presumptions 
to  be  overcome  before  your  real 
value  is  recognized.  The  presump- 
tions are  in  your  favor  rather  than 
against  you.  So  that  in  the  struggle 
to  make  one's  life  a  power  in  the 
world  you  start  with  the  vantage 
ground  of  the  presumed  unselfish- 
ness of  your  efforts. 

This  involves  no  contradiction.  It 
does  not  imply  that  with  the  thought 
of  personal  glory  you  enter  upon  a 

56 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

profession  presumed  to  be  unselfish 
in  its  purposes,  and  so  take  ad- 
vantage of  this  presumption  to  se- 
cure an  advantage  which  those  enter- 
ing other  professions  do  not  have.  It 
does  not  assume  that  the  thought  of 
every  man's  life  is  personal  prom- 
inence and  personal  recognition.  It 
does  assume,  and  I  think  it  may 
rightfully  assume,  that  every  young 
man  starts  in  life  with  high  am- 
bitions ;  that  he  has  the  purpose  to 
make  the  most  of  his  life  ;  that  such 
ambitions  and  purpose  are  not  mat- 
ters of  discredit  but  of  commenda- 
tion ;  that  he  not  only  may  but  ought 
to  seek  such  work  and  place  in  life 
as  will  enable  him  to  use  to  the  best 
advantage  all  the  powers  with  which 
the  Almighty  has  endowed  him.    The 

57 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

aim  of  the  highest  and  purest  am- 
bition is  usefuhiess.  The  lower  am- 
bitions stop  with  wealth,  fanie,  ease ; 
and  a  great  multitude  are  content 
with  the  mere  pursuit  of  sensual 
pleasures.  Now  across  most  pro- 
fessions the  highest  word  written  is 
fame.  Across  many  avocations  the 
highest  is  wealth,  but  over  the 
portal  of  your  profession  is  written 
usefulness.  He  who  would  minister 
least  to  himself  and  most  to  others, 
who  would  make  his  work  of  the 
largest  and  widest  influence,  speak- 
ing most  for  the  higher  things  of 
life,  can  find  no  better  field  for  the 
realization  of  this  ambition  than  the 
pulpit.  So  if  one  has  an  aptitude 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry  and  is 
moved  by  the  high  impulses  and  am- 

58 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

bitions  of  youth  he  may  well  enter 
your  profession  with  the  assurance 
that  in  entering  upon  its  work  and 
life  he  enters  with  a  presumption  in 
his  favor  which  will  give  him  vantage 
ground  for  reaching  the  highest  use- 
fulness and  therefore  the  highest 
success.  This  may  seem  like  an 
appeal  to  one's  ambition.  I  concede 
it;  yet  why  not.  Ambition  may 
have  been  the  sin  by  which  the 
angels  fell,  but  all  the  same  it  is  the 
virtue  by  which  humanity  mounts  to 
a  higher  life.  The  aspiration  and 
ambition  of  the  individual  is  that 
which  promises  higher  and  better 
things  for  the  future  of  the  race. 
And  to  discredit  ambition  is  to  dis- 
parage and  condemn  advancement. 
It  is  not  the  fact  but  the  character  of 

59 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

one's  ambition  which  determines 
whether  it  is  a  matter  of  commenda- 
tion or  condemnation,  and  while  a 
selfish  ambition  may  deserve  all  the 
condemnation  which  is  so  often  be- 
stowed, an  unselfish  and  high  ambi- 
tion is  one  of  the  noblest  of  human 
virtues  and  worthy  of  the  highest 
commendation. 

So,  when  I  say  that  the  pulpit 
opens  before  every  aspiring  and  eager 
youth  the  best  opportunity  for  mak- 
ing his  life  a  great  success,  I  am  not 
appealing  to  the  lower  but  the  higher 
elements  of  his  nature,  and  am  simply 
saying  to  him  that  there,  better  than 
anywhere  else,  he  can  make  his  life 
an  incarnate  beatitude. 

Again,  you  are  called  to  preach  a 
comforting    gospel.     You    bear   the 

60 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

message  of  the  Master,  "  come  unto 
me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy- 
laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  You 
voice  the  words  of  Him  who  said, 
"the  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me 
because  He  hath  anointed  me  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  He 
hath  set  me  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted, to  preach  deliverance  to  the 
captives  and  recovering  of  sight  to 
the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that 
are  bruised."  In  this  you  come  bear- 
ing to  all  of  us  a  comforting  message. 
The  struggle  of  life  is  hard  and  is 
becoming  more  so  as  the  density  of 
population  increases.  Out  of  such 
density  comes  more  and  more  the 
maddening  rush  and  pressure  of  the 
daily  struggle,  not  merely  for  place 
and  wealth  but  as  often  for  mere 
61 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

subsistence.  So,  blessed  is  he  who 
comes  into  this  anxious,  agonizing, 
struggling,  multitude  with  messages 
of  comfort  and  of  peace.  The  angel 
of  comfort  is  the  sweet  angel.  All 
long  for  her  presence;  all  need  her 
blessing.  The  humblest  home  and 
the  richest  mansion  welcome  her  en- 
trance. She  is  the  sweet  evangel, 
whose  presence  brings  peace,  whose 
departure  all  mourn,  and  whose  ab- 
sence makes  life  one  long  sad  failure. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
only  the  lonesome  and  weary  toiler  in 
the  humbler  ways  of  life  cares  for 
her  presence.  She  is  welcome  there 
— thrice  welcome.  The  poet  of  Kan- 
sas pictures  her  blessings  when,  in 
his  Song  of  the  Washerwoman,  he 
tells  this  story : 

62 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

In  a  "very  bumble  cot, 

In  a  rather  quiet  spot, 

In  tbe  suds  and  in  the  soap, 
Worked  a  woman  full  of  hope  ; 

Working,  singing,  all  alone, 

In  a  sort  of  undertone, 

*'  Witb  a  Saviour  for  a  friend. 
He  will  keep  me  to  the  end." 

Sometimes  happening  along, 
I  bad  heard  the  semi-song, 
And  I  often  used  to  smile, 
More  in  sympathy  than  guile; 
But  I  never  said  a  word 
In  regard  to  what  I  heard, 
As  she  sang  about  her  friend 
Who  would  keep  her  to  the  end. 

Not  in  sorrow  nor  in  glee 
Working  all  day  long  was  she, 
As  her  children,  three  or  four, 
Played  around  her  on  the  floor ; 
But  in  monotones  the  song 
She  was  humming  all  day  long, 
"With  the  Saviour  for  a  friend, 
He  will  keep  me  to  the  end." 

It's  a  song  I  do  not  sing. 
For  I  scarce  believe  a  thing 
63 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

Of  the  stories  that  are  told 
Of  the  miracles  of  old  ; 

But  I  know  that  her  belief 

Is  the  anodyue  of  grief, 

And  will  always  be  a  friend 
That  will  keep  her  to  the  end. 


Just  a  trifle  lonesome  she, 
Just  as  poor  as  poor  could  be, 
But  her  spirits  always  rose, 
Like  the  bubbles  in  the  clothes, 
And  though  widowed  and  alone, 
Cheered  her  with  the  monotone, 
Of  a  Saviour  and  a  friend 
Who  would  keep  her  to  the  end. 

I  have  seen  her  rub  and  scrub, 
On  the  washboard  in  the  tub, 
While  the  baby,  sopped  in  suds, 
Eolled  and  tumbled  in  the  duds  ; 
Or  was  paddliug  in  the  pools, 
With  old  scissors  stuck  in  spools  ; 
She  still  humming  of  her  friend 
Who  would  keep  her  to  the  end. 


Human  hopes  and  human  creeds 

Have  their  root  in  human  needs  ; 

64 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

Aud  I  would  not  wish  to  strip 
From  that  washerwoman's  lip 
Any  song  that  she  can  sing, 
Any  hope  that  song  can  bring  ; 
For  the  woman  has  a  friend 
Who  will  keep  her  to  the  end*. 

But  the  blessing  of  her  presence 
is  found  not  alone  in  the  cottage  but 
equally  in  the  palace.  The  great 
longing  of  the  human  soul  is  for 
comfort  and  peace.  Neither  riches, 
nor  power,  nor  position,  of  them- 
selves bring  these.  The  broken- 
hearted are  in  one  place  as  well  as  in 
another.  The  sorrows  of  life  come 
to  the  higher  as  to  the  lower.  There 
are  weary  hearts  up  yonder  as  well 
as  down  here.  Sweet  lives  go  out 
from  the  one  as  from  the  other.  In  the 
.  one  as  in  the  other  the  heart  mourns 

for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand  and 
5  G5 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still. 
The  great  agony  of  life  has  no  loca- 
tion in  place,  and  the  great  yearning 
for  comfort  and  peace  is  not  divided 
by  the  lines  of  wealth  and  power. 
It  is  the  one  hard  thing  coming  to 
all,  whose  mysteries  no  man  has  yet 
fathomed,  whose  burdens  all  feel,  and 
for  comfort  thereunder  all  intensely 
yearn.  Into  this  longing  and  suf- 
fering and  agony  of  life  you  come 
as  the  messengers  of  the  only  com- 
fort, the  only  solace  yet  known  to 
man.  You  are  the  escort  of  the 
sweet  angel  of  comfort.  You  go 
with  her  into  every  saddened  home, 
and  introduce  her  to  every  sorrow- 
ing heart.  Do  I  err  when  I  say  that 
to  the  aspiring,  eager,  enthusiastic, 
young  man  no  door  opens  so  rich  in 

66 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

promise  as  the  one  which  opens  be- 
fore him  the  blessed  privilege  of 
bearing  the  sweet  message  of  com- 
fort and  consolation  to  the  sorrowing 
ones  of  earth.  It  is  a  comforting 
gospel  that  you  preach  and  bear. 

Again,  you  preach  an  uplifting 
gospel.  It  is  not  accident  that  places 
Christian  nations  in  the  forefront  of 
the  world.  Something  more  than 
race,  climate  and  environment  have 
caused  the  differences  between  the 
dwellers  by  the  Congo  and  those  by 
the  Connecticut.  The  scale  up  from 
barbarism  to  civilization  is  along  the 
lines  of  religion.  The  purer  the  re- 
ligion the  higher  the  civilization,  and 
it  is  beyond  peradventure  that  the 
highest  civilization  is  found  hand  in 
hand    with  the  purest  Christianity. 

67 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

Contrast  New  England  with  Africa, 
or  for  that  matter  with  any  non- 
Christian  race  or  nation,  and  ask 
yourselves  if  there  be  any  nobler 
work  than  to  advance  and  strengthen 
that  which  is  potent  to  create  such 
wondrous  difference.  If  you  say  that 
this  suggests  missionary  work,  and 
something  foreign  to  the  thought  of 
most  entering  the  ministry,  look 
within  the  limits  of  our  own  land  and 
contrast  the  homes  and  lives  therein 
and  tell  me  where  is  found  the  most 
of  health,  prosperity,  peace  and  pur- 
ity. And  when  you  find  such  homes 
and  look  for  that  which  is  the  obvious 
cause  of  their  superiority,  can  you 
doubt  the  nobility  of  a  life  spent  in 
speeding  that  cause. 

While  this  is  a  general  truth  which 

C8 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

few  would  question,  there  are  also 
special  reasons  why  the  appeal  to-day 
in  behalf  of  this  highest  and  best 
service  is  more  than  ever  strong  and 
emphatic.  Notwithstanding  all  the 
magnificence  of  our  civilization  it 
must  be  confessed  that  we  face  the 
growing  danger  of  the  dominance  of 
the  material  over  the  spiritual.  The 
marvelous  inventions  and  discoveries, 
the  wonderful  reach  of  science,  the 
unexampled  business  development 
and  the  luxuriousness  born  of  all 
these  elements,  are  pulling  multi- 
tudes away  from  the  spiritual  and 
invisible  to  the  material  and  the  seen. 
And  there  is  danger  that  the  very  in- 
tensity of  our  living — the  magnificent 
surroundings  of  man}^,  may  overthrow 
and   crowd   out   all   those  rich  and 

69 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

tender  experiences  of  life  which  are 
born  of  spiritual  things.  It  is  not 
altogether  a  phantasm — a  dream  un- 
worthy of  notice — that  the  very  lux- 
uriousness  of  our  civilization  may  be- 
come its  tomb,  and  that  ours  may  re- 
peat the  story  of  prior  races  and 
civilizations  in  having  both  a  begin- 
ning and  an  ending,  a  growth  and  a 
decay,  a  birth  and  a  death.  I  am 
not  frightened ;  I  am  not  timid.  I 
have  abounding  confidence  in  the  re- 
served power  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  nation,  but  at  the  same  time  I 
believe  that  the  emergency  calls  for 
the  consecrated  service  of  the  best 
and  strongest  of  our  young  men. 
They  should  understand  that  no 
higher  service  is  before  them,  no 
70 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

larger   possibility   of  usefulness,  no 
grander  work  in  life. 

To  this  end,  and,  as  I  have  said,  in 
adaptation  to  the  changed  conditions 
of  human  society  it  is  all  important 
that  there  should  be  a  singleness  of 
thought  and  work.  You  must  be- 
come most  emphatically  specialists, 
knowing,  with  the  great  apostle,  only 
Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified.  Not 
that  you  need  to  forget  that  you  are 
men  and  citizens,  or  ignore  the  com- 
mon duties  of  life  resting  upon  you 
as  such,  not  that  you  are  to  shut 
yourselves  up  in  your  study  and  be 
seen  only  on  one  day  and  heard  only 
in  one  place,  but  you  cannot  be  half 
preacher  and  half  politician ;  you 
cannot  spend  half  of  the  time  trad- 
ing horses  and  the  balance  of  the  time 
71 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

preaching  the  gospel.  "This  one 
thing  I  do  "  must  be  the  motto  of 
your  lives,  and  in  your  fidelity  to 
that  will  come  the  great  success. 

And  what  a  glory  in  that  success? 
Whatever  may  be  the  truth  as  to  the 
nature,  relations  and  purposes  of 
Christ,  no  one  doubts  that  His  life 
stands  as  the  mightiest  and  most  up- 
lifting force  that  has  entered  into 
human  history.  The  cross  upon 
which  that  life  went  out  is  its  ac- 
cepted symbol.  From  the  hour  when 
beneath  the  darkness  brooding  over 
Calvary  "  the  earth  did  quake  ;  and 
the  rocks  rent,"  that  cross  has  ex- 
pressed the  great  appeal  from  that 
Unseen  yet  Infinite  Power  which 
makes  for  righteousness  to  the  indi- 
vidual and   the   race   to  "  come   up 

72 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

higher."  Under  the  mystic  power 
of  its  touch  the  face  of  the  world 
has  changed.  Constantiue  saw  it 
flaming  in  the  heavens,  and  Imperial 
Rome  became  Christian  Rome. 
Peter  tlie  Hermit  lifted  it  up,  and  all 
Europe  followed  Richard  cour  de 
Lion  to  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
Columbus  fastened  it  to  the  prow  of 
his  vessel,  and  it  led  the  way  across 
unknown  waters  to  an  unknown 
continent.  Every  voyager  to  the  new 
world  came  bearing  the  cross.  To- 
day the  King  of  Greece  lifts  it  on  the 
plains  of  Thessaly  before  the  Moslem 
Crescent,  and  all  Europe  trembles  at 
the  inspiration.  Tlie  individual  has 
felt  its  touch.  Before  it,  as  the  su- 
preme expression  of  self-sacrifice, 
Belfishness  has  lost  its  power,  passion 

73 


The  Pew  to  the  Pulpit 

has  softened  and  hate  has  faded 
away ;  love  has  blossomed  as  the 
fragrant  flower  of  the  soul,  purity 
has  become  possible,  all  human  re- 
lations have  grown  more  sweet  and 
tender,  and  the  home  has  become  a 
heaven  upon  earth. 

Learning  and  wealth  are  in  its 
service.  Nicodemus  no  longer  waits 
till  nightfall  before  he  seeks  the  lowly 
Nazarene.  Dives  does  not  forget  the 
hungry  and  suffering  Lazarus,  and 
the  Good  Samaritan  has  come  to  stay. 
The  weary  traveler  along  the  ways 
of  life,  as  he  sees  it  standing  by  the 
wayside,  like  Paul  at  Appii-forum 
thanks  God,  and  takes  courage.  Up- 
lifted on  church  and  cathedral,  at  the 
top  of  spire  and  steeple,  it  summons 

all  to  a  nobler  and  higher  life,  and 

74 


Suggestions  to  the  Ministry 

above  the  entrance  to  God's  acre  it 
evermore  stands  prophet  and  prophesy 
of  the  resurrection  and  life  eternal. 
Let  the  great  song  of  your  life, 
therefore,  be : 


*'  In  the  cross  of  Christ  I  glory, 

Towering  o'er  the  wrecks  of  time ; 
All  the  light  of  sacred  story 
Gathers  round  its  head  suhlime. 

''When  the  woes  of  life  o'ertake  me, 
Hopes  deceive,  and  fears  annoy, 
Never  shall  the  cross  forsake  me  : 
Lo  !  it  glows  with  peace  and  joy. 

"When  the  sun  of  bliss  is  beaming 
Light  and  love  upon  my  way, 
From  the  cross  the  radiance  streaming, 
Adds  new  lustre  to  the  day. 

"Bane  and  blessing,  pain  and  pleasure, 
By  the  cross  are  sanctified  ; 
Peace  is  there,  that  knows  no  measure, 
Joye  that  through  all  time  abide. 
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